We need to improve our fielding: Dravid

Indian skipper Rahul Dravid made an honest confession after his team's defeat at Edgbaston that the side needs to lift its fielding standards.

Written by Press Trust of India

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Birmingham:

Indian skipper Rahul Dravid made an honest confession after his team's defeat at Edgbaston that the side needs to lift its fielding standards by a few notches if they are to match England in the seven-match ODI series.

India once again put an embarrassing work in the field with plenty of mis-fields and overthrows to add to R P Singh's dropped catch of Alastair Cook at long leg and Mahendra Singh Dhoni missing an easy stumping off Owais Shah.

And indeed, India's pathetic work in the field contrasts sharply to some outstanding work by the young England side that showcased some brilliant cricket.

"England are out-fielding us more than anything else at this stage," said Dravid, in praise of his opposition before dwelling on his own plight.

"Your fielders can sometimes make your bowlers look better than they are and we are not doing that.

"We didn't field as well as we can, that was a disappointing part of our game, and they (England) fielded beautifully," he said.

"It makes a big difference in a game you lose by 40 or 50 runs. You give away 20 and they save 20, that's the game. It's an area we need to improve," Dravid said.

Dravid also underlined the quick dismissals of himself and Sourav Ganguly as one of the main reasons for his team failing to catch up with the England total.

"We knew one of us would have to go and try to make a big score," said Dravid. "The critical stage of the game was losing those two quick wickets which, when you've go in with six batsmen, we couldn't afford."

The Indian captain's decision to send in Dinesh Karthik at number three - when he could have come in himself or send Yuvraj Singh or even Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has a fine record batting up the order - came in for a lot of criticism.

But Dravid defended the decision by pointing how England's decision to back Ian Bell was paying off.

"Look at Ian Bell, we are all talking about him but England have been patient with him and therein lies a lesson for everybody," Dravid said.